Now You're Gone
by PeggsterLover
Summary: The events of the end of “The Big Game” and “Revelations” from JJ’s point of view. Slight implied JJ/Reid. Will contain spoilers for “Revelations” so if you are crazy enough to have not seen it, you may not want to read it. FINALLY FINISHED! YAY-YA!
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: The events of the end of "The Big Game" and "Revelations" from JJ's point of view. Slight implied JJ/Reid. Will contain spoilers for "Revelations" so if you are crazy enough to not have seen it, you may not want to read it._

_Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own anything to do with Criminal Minds. It all belongs to those wonderful people who created it. _

_A/N: I swear I now know this episode word-for-word, off-by-heart! I have watched it that many times to get the dialogue right!!!!_

Chapter 1

Tobias Hankel had just shut the door in our faces. I gave Reid a glance and looked back at me. We began to walk off the porch. Something didn't feel right.

"It's weird." I said to Reid. "Why bother calling the police in the first place, if late you were just gonna pretend you didn't." I was confused, but all of a sudden, I saw Reid's expression change. I knew that look.

"To gauge the response time."

"What?" I didn't quite follow.

"If you were gonna kill somebody, but you wanted to call the police first, what would you need to know?"

Then I realised where he was going with this.

"How long it takes them to get there." The next thing I knew, Reid was speeding off around the corner. "Reid!" I followed him, looking behind to check that no one was following us. I saw Reid peering through a window of Hankel's house.

I wondered what he was seeing. Part of me wanted to join him, but the other part of me is what made me stay put. Then I heard Reid's voice.

"JJ! Get back here!" I ran to him, just in time to see someone disappear into a barn behind the house. "He's the UnSub! He's in the barn, c'mon!" Then, once again, we were speeding off towards the big wooden building. Reid stopped next to the door and pulled out his gun.

"He's in here." He said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

He motioned to his gun. "Have you ever seen me pull this thing out when I wasn't?" He had a point. I looked behind me again when he continued. "Call Hotch."

"We're in the middle of nowhere, Reid, we have no cell service."

"Oh, great." He sighed. "Of course we have no service."

"What do we do?" I was scared now, so I followed suit and pulled out my own gun. I very rarely used it, so I felt reminded that the situation had to be bad.

"I dunno, he's definitely in here." Then I saw in his eyes that he had an idea. "You cover the front, I'm gonna go round back. Hotch knows we came here he'll come looking for us. We'll just wait him out."

Before I could complain, he was off again.

"No, no, no, Reid!" he probably wasn't listening. "Are you sure we should…" but he was gone, "split up?"

I was now alone. I was terrified. Sure, Reid was right, Hotch knew we were here and would know something was wrong when we didn't return. But how long would that take? We were in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service and a psychopath capable of slaughtering two people in less than four minutes. Then I heard something. It sounded like Reid, but I wasn't quite so sure.

"What?" I whispered. I knew it was a bad idea to have split up when the door opened. I pointed my gun at it. "Reid?"

I slowly made my way around the door and looked inside. "Reid?"

I began to walk into the bar. It was pitch black so I pulled my torch out and kept my gun pointed in front of me. The barn smelt foul. I could hear things all around me. Chains moving, wood creaking. I was almost shaking. Who knew what was in here? "Reid." I whispered again. Was he in here?

I continued to look around, my gun prepared in case of an emergency. I walked forward slowly. Suddenly, my foot landed in something liquid-like. I froze. I slowly moved my torch down towards my boot.

Underneath it was a pool of blood. My stomach turned inside of me. I lifted my torch up and pointed it around me. I saw more blood. Lots more blood. There was so much of it. I felt like I was going to be sick. But then I heard something. It was a growl. He head shot up. There, standing only a few feet away was a dog. It was bearing its teeth at me. There was another to the right. And another. I gasped.

The next thing I knew, one of them ran at me. I screamed and stumbled back. It all happened so quickly. I screamed again and pulled the trigger. I thought I heard Reid yelling my name. I just kept firing with my eyes tightly shut.

Then it all went silent. I didn't dare open my eyes. I was expecting it to be like one of those Hollywood movies where everything goes silent and the person thinks that they're safe, but when they open their eyes, the killer is standing above them. I just stayed there, huddled in a corner of the barn with my gun close to me.

I waited.

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_Hope you liked it - let me know what you thought!_

_It was fun writing from JJ's POV :)_

_x _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I heard sirens. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. Where was Reid?

Then I saw torches. Had Hankel and his killing team done something to Reid and now come back for me?

"Oh, damn." I heard a voice say.

_C'mon Jennifer, _I told myself, _it's now or never._

I stood up and pointed my gun at the voice.

"FBI!" I yelled. Don't move!" they spun around.

"JJ! JJ! It's Morgan." The voice seemed familiar. "JJ, it's Morgan and Prentiss, don't shoot."

_Oh thank God. _I thought. I lowered my gun.

"It's ok." Morgan said. "Are you hurt?"

"Tobias Hankel's the UnSub." It was all I could get out.

"Yeah we know." Morgan said, calmly.

"I'll go call in an ambulance." I hadn't even noticed the other officer.

"Yeah." Morgan replied.

"And we just thought he was a witness." I saw Morgan look around at the bodies of the three dead dogs. "I had to kill them." I continued.

"JJ, where's Reid?" Morgan asked, but I didn't listen. All I could see was the dogs murdering Mrs Douglas right there in the barn.

"They just completely tore her apart, there's nothing even left." I was brought to my senses by Prentiss.

"JJ, look at me." I turned to her. "Look at me, where's Reid?"

"Oh, we split up, he said he was gonna go round back." With my reply, Morgan darted out of the doors.

- - - - - -

I was led outside to the ambulance where I was checked up and my arm was bandaged. I hadn't even notice I'd been injured. I suppose I was too busy trying to prevent the dogs from killing me to notice.

I saw Prentiss and the sheriff talking. It didn't sound good.

"We can't find Reid?" my stomach was turning again.

"Not yet." Prentiss replied with a sigh. She was then pulled aside by Morgan. I heard them talking. It was definitely not good. No one had found Reid and somebody had been dragged away. The sickly feeling had returned again. this time, I was sure I was going to be sick.

_Oh God, Reid._

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_There's chapter 2 for ya!_

_Hope you enjoyed it!_

_x _


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you all so so much for your heart-warming reviews! I never expected it to be received so well! I was worried about writing this cos it's always difficult to do it from someone's POV, as you don't want to get it all horribly wrong! But thank you all again! You made my day!_

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Chapter 3

The next morning we were gathered at Hankel's house. I hadn't slept at all. I don't think any of us had.

I heard a car pull up outside. Moments later, Hotch and Garcia entered the room. She looked so worried. Reid was like a brother to her. To all of us. Like a son to Gideon. And to me, well, to me he was… I stopped myself.

"Welcome to our nightmare." I said in a monotone voice.

Morgan took Garcia into Hankel's computer room to do what she does best.

"So nothing new since I left?" Hotch asked.

"Well, the good thing is," Prentiss began, "the guy documented practically every second of his life. Bad news is we're still un-piling."

I spoke up "From the looks of it, he hasn't left this place in years." Then I thought on.

_With the exception of killing people and now snatching away someone close to me._

"He knew he could pretend to be looking for a motel and throw us off his trail."

"No, no, no, it's more than that." Gideon added. "Sheriff's office, 911 calls, every time he engages the police he gets away with it. Reassures himself, God's on his side. Not ours."

The day continued. It seemed to go on forever. Each minute felt like an hour. Each hour felt like a day.

I stood in the bathroom and changed my bandage. It hurt, but not as much as the pain I felt knowing Reid was in danger. I leaned against the sink and closed my eyes. I tried to relax, but it wasn't working.

I opened my eyes again. I looked in the mirror and saw something behind me.

It was the dog.

There was that feeling again. That horrible sickly feeling.

I tried to stay calm and slowly slid my hand across to where my gun was. I felt my hand grasp it and spun around. I began to point it at my target but quickly stopped myself before I shot Prentiss. I must have been imagining it.

"Hey, hey, hey, JJ!" she said, her hand out in front of her. "It's me. Are you alright?" I put my gun away quickly.

"Uh, yeah, I'm…" I stumbled on my words. "I'm sorry, you scared me."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry." I gave her a small smile before she continued. "I'm talking tomorrow morning to some guy who knew Hankel from Narcotics Anonymous. Why don't you come with me? Get out of the house."

I sounded like a good idea. "Yeah." I'm still unsure to this day whether I really meant it, or whether I just said it so she would leave me alone, but I still said it.

"Ok, great." She began to leave, but there was something bugging me.

"Emily?"

"Yeah?"

I had to ask. "How come none of this gets to you?"

"What do you mean?" she looked confused.

"You came off a desk job, now suddenly you're in the field surrounded by mutilated bodies and… you don't even flinch."

"She's right." Hotch was now standing behind Prentiss. "You've never blinked."

I could see her searching for a reason. "I guess I just compartmentalise better than most people."

I was considering what she had said when I heard Morgan yell from outside.

"Hey guys! I think I got something!"

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_Hope you enjoyed it!_

_xoxo _


	4. Chapter 4

_Well, what can I say but once again, thank you all for the reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying this! I'm certainly enjoying writing it! Here's the next instalment, enjoy!_

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Chapter 4

Well, we were no closer to finding Hankel or Reid. Morgan and Hotch had found Hankel's father in a cellar below the house. Dead.

However, we did now know something after Prentiss and I had visited some guy who knew Tobias.

"I haven't thought about that boy in probably ten years." He had said.

"So," I began, "You two were in a programme together?"

"He should tell you, but yeah," he looked down, "I was his sponsor. Small town, we all get lumped together. Me, I was just a drunk but Tobias," he looked at me, "he was a whole different sorta animal."

"So," Prentiss said, "What was Tobias' drug of choice?"

"Dilaudid."

"Drug store heroin."

"He used to cut it with a psychedelic." He explained. "That boy was lookin' to escape as far from reality as he could get." We stared at him as he continued. "Addicts don't get excuses, but if someone ever needed to self-medicate, it was that boy."

"Why's that?" Prentiss asked. Now we were getting somewhere.

"You don't know anything about his daddy?"

I looked at Prentiss before telling him what we had discovered. "We think Tobias Hankel may have murdered his father."

"Good for him!" I raised my eyebrows. He actually sounded happy for Tobias. "You know, Tobias' mama ran off with another man when he was seven. His dad went section eight, started preachin' about sin, end of the world stuff. He beat Tobias silly." He pointed to his forehead. "He burnt a cross in his forehead when Tobias was ten. If Tobias wore a hat, he'd beat him more."

It was horrific. It took religion to a whole other level. For a second, I actually felt remotely sorry for Hankel. Then my heart reminded me of what he had done to Reid and all of those other innocent people.

"Is there anyone Tobias would turn to if he was on the run?" Prentiss asked.

"Far as I know, he never left home. You know, honestly, between his habit and the old man, I'm amazed he's still alive."

- - - - - - - -

When we returned to the house, we found out something incredibly odd. And I mean _incredibly_ odd. Tobias was living as three personalities. Himself, his father and a mediator known as Raphael. As we were swapping information, the sheriff entered.

"Well, this could be some bad news." He informed us. "A computer store was robbed in the middle of the night. A suburb outside of Atlanta. Thief got away with four laptops, external hard-drives and a satellite."

Hotch spoke first. "If it's Tobias it puts him right back in business."

- - - - - - -

We stood around after hearing the news. We were still all in shock. Not only did Hankel have a federal agent as a hostage, he was still planning on more kills. Our thoughts were interrupted by Morgan yelling from the other room.

"Guys! Guys! Get in here!"

We rushed to see what had got him worked up. As we entered the computer room, I felt sick to my stomach. On at least ten computer screens, was Reid. He was sitting bound to a chair and looked in a terrible shape. He had blood running down one side of his head. I could barely look. Then Prentiss gasped and spoke the fact that we all were thinking but hated to admit.

"He's been beaten."

"Can't you track him?" I asked.

"Hankel's only streaming this to his home computer." Garcia replied.

"This is for us. He knows we're here." Gideon explained with no emotion in his voice.

"I'm gonna put this guys head on a stick." Morgan's voice, on the other hand, was full of fury. Hotch began to talk with Garcia but I wasn't listening. I wasn't concentrating. I just stared at him. Reid. He shouldn't have been there. Why him? Why couldn't he have taken me instead? I'd never seen Reid like that. He looked so vulnerable. He was the baby of the team, alright, but he was always so brave. He hated to show his weaknesses, even though it was obvious. We had always joked with and about him. made fun of his intelligence, his social abilities, or lack of. Everything.

"_Face it, chico, you are only a genius in English."_

"_You don't mind sharing with me, do you?"_

"_No wonder you can't get a date."_

"_We call it the Reid Effect."_

"_Yeah Reid, why are you still afraid of the dark?"_

So many times. We never really took him seriously. And now there he was. In the hands of a deranged sadistic serial killer. I came back to my senses when Reid and Hankel began to speak.

"You really see inside men's minds?" Hankel asked Reid. Reid didn't reply. "See these vermin?" I couldn't tell what he was on about. "Choose one to die; I'll let you choose one to live."

Then Reid spoke. My heart lifted when I heard his voice. "No."

"I thought you wanted to be some kind of saviour."

"You're a sadist in a psychotic break. You won't stop killing. Your words not true."

_Stop aggravating him, Reid! _I thought.

"The other heathens are watching." Reid's attention turned to the camera for the first time. He'd only just realised that we could see him.

"Choose a sinner to die and I'll say the name and address of the person to be saved." There was a pause.

Eventually, Reid spoke up. "I won't choose who gets slaughtered and have you leave their remains behind like a poacher."

Hankel suddenly rushed towards him. he grabbed his shoulders and lifted him from the chair.

_Oh God! _

"You really see into my mind, boy?" Hankel said calmly. "Can you see I'm not a liar?" Reid looked terrified. "Choose one to die, save a life, otherwise, they're all dead." He dropped Reid back onto the chair with a painful thud. Reid was almost crying, his breathing was heavy.

"Alright." He whispered. "I'll choose who lives."

"All the same." Hankel replied. There was another moment of silence.

"Far…" he could barely speak. "Far right screen." Hankel looked over his shoulder.

"Marilyn David. 4913 Walnut Creek Road."

"You got that?" Hotch asked Garcia.

"Yeah."

Gideon pulled out his phone and called the number which had appeared on the screen. When she answered, he warned her. On the screen, I saw Reid look up.

"Raphael?" he asked weakly. The next thing I knew, the screen went black. They were gone. I felt like screaming. Seeing Reid on that screen, as painful as it was, reassured me that he was alive. Now I could no longer see him. What if that was the last time I saw him? What if the next time the camera turned on, all we saw was Reid's motionless, dead body? I snapped out of it when Morgan punched the door and stormed out of the room.

"So now what?" the sheriff broke the silence that had gagged us all. "Wait for a 911 call and hope we get there in time?"

There was no other option.

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_Hope you liked it! Let me know, as you all should know by now, reviews are more than welcome!! They make me smile :) _

_xoxo _


	5. Chapter 5

_You're probably sick of hearing this, but thank you again so so much for your comments! They really mean a lot to me!_

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Chapter 5

The next thing we know, there was another crime scene. Hotch and Gideon headed there.

Meanwhile, I paced the room with my coffee in my hand. I couldn't rest my mind for one second. Not while Reid was out there with that psychopath.

"I thought you were gonna try and get some rest." Morgan asked me.

"Everyone else in working." I replied. "I should be too." It was the least I could do. I felt guilty for what happened. Therefore I couldn't just lie down and try to sleep. I had work to do.

He looked at me. "We can handle it."

I looked up at him when he looked away. "Its funny, I keep thinking, the one thing we need to crack this case is, well, Reid." It pained me to say his name. I hated this.

Morgan nodded. "Yeah." He began to walk away, but I stopped him. Something had been on my mind for a while now, and I wasn't going to let it slip.

"You think Reid and I should have stayed together at the barn, don't you?"

"JJ go get some rest." He was avoiding the question. It frustrated me even more.

"I can tell that's what you're thinking, so…"

"I just wanna get Reid home safe."

"But, if I had his back, like I was supposed to," as I spoke I could see his expression was harsh. "He'd be here right now."

"JJ, what d'you want from me?" I could see him getting worked up.

"I just…" I was really annoyed now. "I want someone to tell me the truth." It wasn't too much to ask.

"The truth is, one of you is here and one of you isn't. You've gotta work the rest out for yourself." His words hit me like a sledgehammer. I knew it. He blamed me. He saw it as my fault that Reid had been kidnapped. It was one sickly feeling to feel guilty about the situation, but when someone else thought it too, it was beyond sick. What about Prentiss? Or Hotch? Did they blame me too? Worse still, was Reid sitting there, tied to that chair, thinking that this was all my fault? I don't think I could live with myself if he felt that way. Reid was so close to me, if I lost his trust, I don't know what I would do. I felt like breaking down right there. But I knew I had to be strong.

- - - - - - -

The next morning, I wandered into the computer room, where Garcia still sat.

"Anymore sign of Reid?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "He just posted the last murder online. It's had over seventeen thousand hits in the first twenty minutes." He voice was full of disgust.

"I wanna see it."

She didn't look at me. "No, you don't."

"Don't tell me what I don't and don't want."

She looked up at me now, with concern flashing in her eyes.

"If I can't watch this," I continued. "I have no business being in the field."

"Jayj, it's not a competition." She said softly.

"I… I need to see it."

"If you stop being affected by things, you lose parts of yourself, you know?"

She was trying my patience. "Show me."

I could see her give up trying. She pushed a button and stood up. "I won't watch it with you." She left the room and I sat down.

It was horrific. But I still meant what I had said to Garcia. I saw the couple brutally murdered and wondered what they were thinking. What had ran through the man's mind when he saw his wife get her throat slashed? The video finished and I sat in silence for a moment, just thinking about Reid. All I could do was pray.

It took me a while to gather the strength to get up. My legs had turned to jelly after seeing the pair get slaughtered. Like Reid had described. I walked into the other room where Morgan and Prentiss were talking. I couldn't look Morgan in the eye.

"Uh, where's Gideon?" I asked.

"He's upstairs, why? What's goin on?" Morgan looked at me.

"Hankel just posted the latest murder." I explained. Things were going from bad to worse.

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_Hope you enjoyed it. I know it was a short chapter. I promise the next one will be much longer. Seeing as most, if not all, of you should know what is coming up!! _

_xoxo _


	6. Chapter 6

_Ok, I couldn't wait to upload the next chapter, so here it is! Enjoy!_

_By the way, you may have noticed I talk a lot about Reid's smile… I just think he has a lovely smile! :)_

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Chapter 6

When Gideon told us, I was having none of it. It wasn't true. He was lying. No. he wasn't dead. No. No. No…

I'd told myself over and over. I'd decided that it as all just a bad dream. Any moment, I would wake up. I'd be sitting on the jet next to Reid. On our way back to Quantico. The case wrapped up. On our way home. I waited to hear Reid's voice trying to wake me up. Telling me that it was only a dream and that everything was fine. But it didn't come. He was gone. Gone. The words repeated themselves in me mind.

_Reid. Dead. Gone. Reid. Dead. Gone. _

When I' d entered the computer room, I felt eve worse than I had before. There he was. There was no denying it. Laying on his back, still chained to the chair. Motionless. Lifeless. Dead. He just lay there. Gideon had not joined us in the room.

I didn't blame him.

To watch Reid, his son, die in front of him must have been horrible.

I stood and stared at the screens. I waited for him to get up and give us all his usual warm, mesmerising smile. I waited for him to tell us that everything was going to be alright. But he didn't. My eyes filled with tears as the thought of never seeing that smile again filled my mind. But I blinked them back.

It felt like he had been dead for hours. But it had only been minutes. Still I tried to convince myself that it wasn't real. But it didn't work.

Suddenly, we were all brought out of our trance when there was movement on the screen. But not the movement I was waiting for.

Hankel walked into the shot. He approached Reid's body and knelt by him.

I felt sick. I felt like screaming.

"Leave him alone you son of a bitch! Can't you just let him be?"

But I restrained myself. Then he did something unexpected.

Hankel's hands pressed down on Reid's chest. One… two… three… four…

After a while, he dropped his head and filled Reid's lungs with air. He began more compressions.

My heart was racing. We all held our breath. The CPR seemed to go on forever. Hotch disappeared and came back a few moments later with Gideon. We watched. We waited.

Then, causing us to jump, Reid began to cough. His back arched off the floor as he breathed once again. I sighed with relief I had never felt before. Part of me wanted to thank Hankel for saving him, but then I remembered that he'd killed Reid in the first place. Prentiss was the first to speak.

"Wait, wait a second. When was the video of the last murder posted?"

"9:23." Garcia told her.

"And what was the time of death?"

"The 911 call came in at 9:04." Hotch added. "The murder must have been moments later."

"That's only a nineteen minute difference." I pointed out. I had finally found my voice again.

"How long would it take to post the m-peg?" Morgan asked.

"Two, three minutes." Garcia replied.

"Well let's call it two. You figure a maximum of sixty miles per hour in a residential area. That means Hankel has to be within a seventeen mile radius from the crime scene."

"Garcia, can ye see it on a map?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah." She pulled up a map of the area. The specified area was circled. We were getting closer to Reid.

"Call Farraday. I want that area locked down like its martial law." Gideon told me. I began to get up, but Garcia spoke.

"Guys."

Hankel circled Reid on the screens.

"You came back to like." He looked down at Reid.

"Raphael?" Reid whispered, hoarsely.

"There can be only one of two reasons."

"I was given CPR." Reid looked up at his captor.

"There are no accidents. How many members on your team?"

"Seven."

"The seven angels who had the seven trumpets." Hankel wasn't making any sense. "Prepared themselves to sound." I looked around as Hankel continued. "The first sounded and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood, and they were thrown to Earth."

Hotch was the first to understand. "He thinks it's Revelations. The seven archangels versus the seven angels of death."

Hankel pulled Reid's chain into an upright position.

"Tell me who you serve." He asked our friend.

"I serve you." Reid replied.

"Then choose one to die."

"What?"

"Your team members. Choose one to die."

I brought my hands to my face.

"Kill me." Reid told him.

"You said you weren't one of them."

"I lied."

"Your team has six other members. Tell me who dies."

_Pick me, Reid. _I thought. _I deserve it. I put you in this mess. Choose me to die._

"No." Reid almost sounded as if he'd spoken directly to me.

The next thing, we saw Hankel pull out a gun. He pointed it at Reid's head.

"Choose and prove you'll do God's will."

"No." he still refused.

Hankel pulled the trigger. We jumped. It didn't fire.

"Choose."

"I won't do it."

Again the trigger was pulled. Nothing.

_Damn it, Reid, pick me!_

I watched unable to look away.

"Life is a choice." Hankel told him.

"No."

He pulled the trigger again.

There was no shot.

"Choose."

My mind was screaming for him to choose me.

There was a pause.

Then Reid spoke.

He stumbled on his words.

"I choose…" our hearts were pounding. "Aaron Hotchner."

_Whoa. _I thought.

We all looked at Hotch as Reid continued to speak.

"He's a classic narcissist. He thinks he's better than everyone else on the team. Genesis 23.4. 'Let him not deceive himself and trust in emptiness, vanity, falseness and futility for these shall be his recompense.'"

With this Hotch stormed out.

At the same time, Hankel pointed the gun in the air and pulled the trigger.

The shot made us all jump.

Hankel pulled out a new bullet and showed it to Reid.

"For God's will."

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_Thanks again for reading! Once again, reviews are welcome – they make me feel warm and fuzzy inside :) _

_xoxo _


	7. Chapter 7

_Hello there again! Glad you're still enjoying it and I haven't bored you or anything!!!_

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Chapter 7

We followed to where Hotch had disappeared to. What would we say? I know people have joked about wanting to kill their boss, but this was crazy.

"I'm not a narcissist." He was holding a Bible.

"C'mon, look, you can't take anything from that." Gideon told him. "He's not in his right mind, Hotch."

"That's not what I'm talking about. No stop, stop!" Hotch yelled. "All right everybody, right now. What's my worst quality?"

No one spoke.

"Ok, I'll start." Hotch said. "I have no sense of humour."

"You're a bully." I couldn't stop myself.

"I'm a bully."

"You can be a drill sergeant sometimes." Morgan added.

"Right."

"You don't trust women as much as men." Prentiss blurted out.

"Ok, good, I'm all these things, but none of you said that I ever put myself above the team, because I don't. Ever. Reid and I argued about the definition of classic narcissism and he knew I would remember that. And he also quoted Genesis 23.4. Read it."

He passed the Bible to me and I read the passage out loud.

"I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me property for a burial place among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight."

Gideon smiled.

"He wouldn't get it wrong unless it was on purpose." Hotch told us.

"He's in a cemetery." Morgan realised.

- - - - - -

Garcia searched her map.

"I don't see a cemetery."

"Call up the first time we saw Reid." Gideon told her. She did and we saw him.

"I won't choose who gets slaughtered and have you leave their remains behind like a poacher." He looked directly at the camera. He knew it.

"Check to see if there are any reports of poaching in the last couple of days." Hotch said.

"Ok, uh, a farmer reported two sheep being slaughtered on his property."

"Where are we talking?" Morgan asked. The map zoomed in closer. There was something on the screen.

"What's that patch of green there?" I asked.

"Marshall Parish. I think it's an old plantation." Hotch answered.

"Wait!" Prentiss said suddenly. "Tobias wrote in his journals about 'staying clean' and 'keeping away from Marshall'."

The computer beeped.

"Guys," Garcia caught our attention. "There's a cemetery on the grounds."

We had him.

- - - - - - - - -

We had rushed to the SUV's faster than we'd ever run before. Once we arrived, we climbed out of the cars, guns ready. We hoped we were in time.

We stormed the cabin, but there was no one there.

"Ugh, what's that smell?" Prentiss asked, in disgust.

"Let's spread out, they have to be on foot. Let's go!" Hotch told us.

As we stalked around the woods, my heart was pounding in my chest. What if we didn't make it in time? I had to force the thought out of my mind and keep it on looking for Reid. We were going to be in time. We had to be. I head talking. I hoped, no, I prayed, that it was them. It proved that Reid was still alive.

We got closer to the voices and I knew it was him. My heart leapt. We were in time!

But then I heard a gunshot.

"Reid!" Hotch yelled.

_Oh God, please. _I begged.

We got closer, expecting the worst. We saw Reid kneeling next to Hankel's dead body. Hotch grabbed Reid's arm and helped him to his feet.

"Reid?" he said softly. "You alright?"

Reid looked at him for a moment before grabbing Hotch and the two shared a hug.

"I knew you'd understand."

They held each other for a moment before letting go. I took the opportunity to rush to his side and pull him close. His weak frame stumbled and threatened to collapse, but I held him tightly so it would not happen. I was almost in tears. I never wanted to let him go.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered.

"It's alright. It wasn't your fault." His words rushed straight to my heart and my eyes filled with tears. I hoped I wasn't imagining it, and what he'd really said was that he hated me or blamed me. Even an 'I forgive you' would have made me feel relieved, but he didn't blame me. I held him tighter.

When I eventually let go, I couldn't stay another second. I began to head back to the car. But not before stopping in front of Morgan. I glanced at him and I could tell in his expression he had heard what Reid had told me. I wiped away a tear and left.

Reid was safe.

It was not my fault.

It wasn't my fault at all.

Reid had reassured me.

It wasn't my fault and I knew it.

But then why did I still feel so guilty?

- - - - - - - - -

_Well, that's all folks! Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks again for your kind reviews! It was received so well and I'm so grateful that you have followed through to the end!_

_I love you all!!_

_Keep smiling!!_

_xoxo _


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